hey guys welcome back to the channel so we are smack dab in the middle of winter and it
is freezing out today i don't know can you see that you can actually see my breath in here so
the heater hasn't been turned on for that long but i wanted to talk
to you guys about self-heating lithium batteries
a cold streak in Alberta is temperatures around -30 and they feel like minus 40.
right now it is currently minus 28 feels like minus 35. we get asked this all the time it's
like how do you guys stay warm in your camper van how do your electronics works how does your
battery still work at this temperature well to be honest electronics and cold weather
just don't work great together they just don't perform as well as they normally would
because we have a self-heated lithium battery that makes things so much easier
how do you guys actually like stay warm when you go outside well let me show you
yeah that's right the temperature dips the beaver comes out i'm not actually sure if
this is real fur because i didn't buy it but we're gonna go ahead and assume it is not
right there that's how we stay warm when we go outside back to cold weather batteries the
reason why you need a self-heated battery or you need to heat your lithium battery
is because the reaction created in the battery is molecular when temperature dips those atoms aren't
moving around as much as they normally would banging off each other so they are just sitting
there and basically vibrating and not causing the reaction that it would normally cause that is kind
of a quick sum up battle born has actually done a really good comparison online that goes over
lead acid versus lithium i will link it below in the description if you would like to read that
it goes into the Puekert effect i have my phone here because i want to get this exactly right
it is a mathematical equation that says if you have a high current coming out of the battery
you get less energy coming out of the battery to simplify that a little bit as you increase
the discharge rate you decrease the capacity you are not going to get as much power out of
your batteries as you normally would and of course lithium operates a lot better than lead acid but
the disadvantage is with lithium it needs to be around zero degrees celsius to accept a charge
if you try to charge a lithium battery lower than zero degrees celsius say at minus 10 minus 20
you can do significant damage to the battery so that is why it is important to have a self-heated
battery or have your batteries located in a heated compartment today i wanted to talk about
three of the most popular heated batteries on the market that is Battle Born Renogy
and my favourite Canbat so there are a few difference between these batteries that i'm
going to go over and help you figure out which one you should buy first up i'm going to talk
about Renogy they just came out with a self-heated battery and i haven't personally been able to test
it out but i have tested out their other batteries and i've also reviewed them their internal heater
takes power from the battery itself and uses that to heat the battery up to zero degrees celsius so
it can receive a charge battle born's battery actually comes with a switch that you're able
to shut on and off and also a wire on top that you can disconnect the heater during the summer months
when it's warm you want to just disconnect it not to worry about it during the winter you're going
to want to be able to split that switch when it dips far below zero degrees celsius to make sure
that battery is heated luckily all three of these batteries have a battery management system or bms
inside that will actually shut off the charging so the battery doesn't get damaged
below zero degrees celsius i'm not sure what the actual temperature it might vary a little
bit from battery to battery but regardless below zero degrees celsius or somewhere around there
the battery will actually shut itself down so it doesn't get damaged which is a great feature
Canbat's battery works a little bit different from the other two and is why we bought one and
whether that's your solar panels your alternator or short power it will take power from that source
by quite a bit what you are saving in money you are losing with customer service unfortunately the
international customer support for Renogy hasn't been the best i've experienced it i've heard other
people who've experienced it they do make great products in the states i've heard it's better
but that is what you're sacrificing with a cheaper product as far as Canbat and battle born go their
products are just over a thousand dollars for a 100 amp hour heated battery about a thousand and
fifty i'm talking in american dollars the thing with battle born is they should have free shipping
to the lower 48 states but outside of that you're going to be paying for shipping and of course
batteries aren't the lightest thing out there so that is going to be a little more expensive can
bat batteries actually have free shipping to the states and canada which is really nice especially
if you're canadian they are a canadian company out of vancouver canada and their customer service is
phenomenal i've also heard really good thing about battle born's customer service they really know
what they're talking about and have fantastic support canbat also makes lead acid batteries
as well as lithium batteries uh they come in all different sizes and also different voltages like
12 volt 24 volt 48 volt so they offer a ton of different products both battle born and Canbat
only specialize in batteries so that is all they offer that is what they do and they are fantastic
at it whereas Renogy obviously makes all sorts of different solar components Canbat is also a
distributor of victron products and if you have done any research at all you know that victron
has a fantastic reputation in the solar market and they make great products if you guys are new and
designing your own solar system i've developed a simple solar guide i will link it below it covers
everything from component breakdown to a schematic diagram as well as a price and quantity chart with
links and discount codes so if you would like to learn more about solar system and are a little
confused about what's going on and need some help i will link that below it's only 14.99 i've also
had lots of good feedback so be sure to check that out i will also link all of these batteries in the
description below if you want to go ahead and check them out with Renogy and Canbat if you use
the discount code made2travel at checkout you will receive a 5 discount which is really nice since
batteries are probably going to be one of the most if not the most expensive component in your camper
van or solar system we have been using our Canbat battery for the last year and a half and it has
performed flawlessly it is always charged up and ready to go in our last van we rented out before
building this one they had a lead acid battery i believe i think it was 100 amp hours and it just
did not perform well at all our fridge was always dying it wasn't even that cold when we rented the
van i think it was uh around the end of march we were doing a ski trip through british columbia
and it just kept dying so we weren't sure what was going on but it definitely wasn't charging
properly it just wasn't operating as well lithium definitely has the upper hand if you guys don't
already know that there are also a few ways that you can charge batteries if you don't want to buy
a heated one of course you can buy temperature regulated heat mats or you can build an insulated
enclosure to put your batteries in our batteries are located by the back of the van completely
opposite of the heater it stays quite cold down there on the ground close to the back doors so
quite often actually it can be five to ten degrees colder underneath the bed back there since heat
just rises up uh that's one thing to keep in mind as well i wouldn't try some of the heated pads
they can be a little cheap and a little finicky and the last thing you want to do is overheat your
battery and damage it the components in there can be somewhat fragile so you don't want to cause a
fire or lay anything out all right thank you guys so much for watching if you have any questions
regarding self-heated batteries comment below let me know what's going on if you're considering
buying one of these batteries also let me know which one you decide to go with would love to
hear from you be sure to like and subscribe and hit that bell for notifications because
we're gonna be posting a video every single week all right i gotta get going look at that so cold
wow okay see you guys in the next one!